Boxing Day
by kstreker1
Summary: This is an idea that came to mind when I saw an old Lassie and Jeff show. Of course, that day, something more than expected happened, too, and Lassie saved the day. This time it was Captain Proton.
1. Chapter 1

Boxing Day

**Boxing Day**

by KSTreker1

This is a work of fiction and although it based on the series STAR Trek Voyager, is the product of the author's imagination. It is intended to promote and celebrate the series Star Trek Voyager. It is not intended, in any way, to infringe any copyrights, licenses or enfranchisements, registered trademarks, patents, or other properties, either real, intellectual, or mercantile.

Part I

The captain's mess was abuzz with noise. The clink and clatter of eating utensils and glasses competed with at least four different conversations going on simultaneously. USS Voyager's low-slung hull glided between, around, and through the fragments of light energy that could only be seen when she was at warp. Captain Kathryn Janeway and some of her senior staff had been having these informal captain's messes for a while now. Janeway found them to be an excellent way to relate to her officers while getting a real feel for the mood of the crew and the overall condition of the ship. Although they had experienced many crises and adventures in the delta quadrant, the past few weeks had been relatively uneventful and Janeway wondered when or if the other shoe would drop.

As she sampled the variety of dishes prepared by the ship's chief cook and morale officer, Neelix, she adroitly tuned into each conversation in turn, sampling the chatter in the room in much the same way that she sampled the food. The topics of conversation ranged the gambit from a heated conversation between her chief engineer, BeLanna Torres, and her con officer and helmsman, Tom Parris, about the best way to get the most out of the ship's maneuvering jets while in close orbit, to a discussion between her first officer, Chakotay, and her chief of security, Tuvok, in which Chakotay tried to interest Tuvok in the science and study of archeology. Sometimes the conversations blended together and made it difficult for Janeway to keep track, but she really enjoyed listening to her people communicate with each other on this level.

"You would find such a study to be most frustrating on Vulcan, Commander." Tuvok said. "Our racial memory extends all the way to the very beginning of sentience on our world. Therefore, there are no hidden civilizations or divergent cultures to discover or analyze."

"No, no, BeLanna," Tom Parris protested. "You have to finesse them. I mean sure, you can just crank them on and adjust the directional nozzles to make the ship do what you want, but you can do the same job with a lot less fuel and a lot more skill if you use a light hand on the controls, and let each thruster or thruster group do its job when it's in it's best angle of attack."

Neelix finally finished fussing around with pots and pans and sat down to enjoy the meal himself. Janeway decided to strike up a conversation with him so he wouldn't break the chain of any of the other conversations. She was also not insensitive to the fact that some of her crew found Neelix hard to take, except in small doses. "Well done, Mr. Neelix," she said, smiling. "Everything is absolutely delicious."

Neelix beamed. "Thank you, Captain," he said in his endlessly cheerful way. "I'm glad you're enjoying it."

"So what is the mood of the crew?" Janeway asked seriously.

Neelix pursed his lips, liking to be consulted on such an important aspect of ship's life. "Well, they're kind of restless," he said thoughtfully. "Everything's been going really well, lately, and that's a good thing," he hurriedly added. "But the crew knows that they're a long way from home and they expect to run into a lot more trouble before they get there. They are getting kind of tense waiting for it in these quiet times."

Chakotay and Tuvok, overhearing the conversation, decided separately to interject comments of their own. "I'd say that's a good assessment of the situation, captain," Chakotay said. "I think Neelix has put the whole thing in a nutshell with just that statement."

"Indeed," Tuvok said. "The crew is so restive that I have even been asked to increase the number of security drills to help break the monotony of the routine. I have honored those requests, of course."

Janeway smiled. "It's gratifying to see you all in agreement about something. In fact, it's quite startling. However, does anybody have any suggestions as to what we can do about it?"

"Well, we could have a really big party!" Neelix said excitedly.

"We could increase the drills," Tuvok said, expanding them to more of the ship's departments. "

"More drills," Torres broke in, dismayed. "My department is disrupted enough with the ones we have now."

"well, there's always boxing day,' Chakotay said in an off-handed way.

"Oh, no! Not that!" BeLanna groaned.

"Oh!" Neelix cried excitedly. "I've seen that on the holodeck! Very exciting sport!"

The others at the table grinned. BeLanna's scowl was hard to make out among the ridges on her forehead. "It's not that kind of boxing, Neelix," Chakotay started to explain. "In Earth history, it was customary in some cultures for people to swap positions or jobs for a day, in order to improve morale among the local populace and give people an idea of what it was like to hold a different job with different responsibilities or duties."

"Ah," Neelix said, fascinated. "You mean the lowliest man in the community might be the leader or the man with the cleanest hands in town might have to take on the dirtiest job?"

"Exactly," Chakotay said. "But just for a day, and usually during a time when there was nothing particularly important going on. It really gave some people a lot more appreciation for the things that other people did for them on a daily basis and made them want to be more of a contributing part of their communities."

"I've read about that, too," Tom Parris interjected. "But are you suggesting we could do it right here on Voyager?"

"Most assuredly not," Tuvok spoke up firmly. "Such an activity would be too disruptive to the ship's routine. Also, there are a number of personnel in key positions who would not be able to participate and whose morale would suffer accordingly."

"Oh I don't know," Tom said thoughtfully. "It could be interesting. I mean, you'd have to give it some thought as to how to do it."

"It would definitely take some doing," Chakotay said. "Not only would you have to list the people or positions that would not be able to participate, but it would take some serious thought to figure out who to put into what positions."

"I must reiterate my position," Tuvok said, leaning slightly forward. "I am not at all sanguine about such an idea. I believe that the morale boosting result of such an exercise would be outweighed by the potential problems that would be caused."

Neelix was irresistibly compelled to respond to Tuvok's last statement. He had to react to the rigid sternness that made Tuvok so opposite to his own happy-go-lucky way of doing things. "Ah, come on, Mr. Vulcan!" he chirped excitedly. "It could be a lot of fun! By the Way, Mr. Chakotay, where did you come up with this idea."

"It was done from time to time on Maquis ships and bases," Chakotay said, somewhat sheepishly. "It was good for morale."

"At least among most people," BeLanna grumbled. "I always thought it was a stupid idea."

Kathryn Janeway was looking thoughtful now. She liked to have her officers argue their way through a discussion when there was time for it. It helped her crystallize her own thoughts and allowed her to hear some of them spoken aloud. "I am interested at least in the idea," she spoke up. "It could even be an interesting exercise for the crew, a set of new circumstances unlike the usual drills or other things they've dealt with. Besides, Neelix has a point. It could be fun."

Most of the rest of the table smiled. "Captain," Tuvok said, dourly.

"All right, Tuvok," she cut him off. "Your objection is noted but the more I think about this, the more I want to do it. Chakotay and Neelix, you two sit down and work up lists of crew and department positions that would and would not be able to participate. Put out the word among the crew to gauge their interest in such an idea. We'll talk about this again next week, if nothing comes up to interfere with it."

"Aye, Captain," the two men spoke up in unison.

Tuvok frowned and went back to his soup. The rest of the evening was spent in more quiet conversation as the officers talked about the idea among themselves or just about nothing in particular.

The following week passed without incident and the ship's routine was unchanged. This was very much a part of life on a starship, involving weeks of travel from one place to another, with people doing mundane things like working their duty watches, eating, sleeping, and taking recreational time. By the next captain's mess, there was a much more positive feeling about the idea that had been suggested during the last one.

Once the officers were comfortable and had started to eat, Janeway opened the conversation. "Well, Chakotay and Neelix, what have you come up with regarding the boxing day idea."

"Ah," Neelix chirped as he jumped up from the table and sprang for a data pad that rested on a side table. "See for yourself, Captain." He handed her the pad. "Mr. Chakotay and I managed to put in a respectable amount of time on this."

Janeway tapped the cursor keys on the pad and scrolled through its contents. She sat thoughtfully for a moment, re-reading some portions and raising her eyebrows over others. "It looks as though most of the standard watch compliment will be unchanged, but you do have some interesting ideas here. What kind of response did you get from the crew?"

"Some of them were quite excited about it," Neelix said. "Others were incredulous that something like that would happen, or they couldn't see how it would. We did get suggestions or requests to participate from over half the crew."

"I see you've even got me involved in the fun," Janeway said. "Whose supposed to be Captain for a day? Oh yes, I see, crewman Mullins?"

The rest of the officers leaned forward in surprise. "Mullins in hydroponics?" BeLanna asked. "You expect the captain to change places with him?"

"That was my suggestion," Chakotay spoke up. "Neelix's comment last week about the man with the dirtiest job, got me thinking."

"And of course," Neelix cut in quickly. "We know the captain isn't afraid of a little hard work or of getting her hands dirty."

"Oh you know that, do you," Janeway said, smiling tightly at the two men.

Neelix looked slightly nervous but Chakotay said steadily, "It's the only way it could play, Kathryn. The captain has to be part of it and has to take on one of the worst jobs or it cuts into the morale benefits for the rest of the crew."

"I suppose I can see that," Janeway said, conceding the point. "And it looks like you and Chief Bowers will be changing places, Mr. Tuvok," she added after a few seconds.

Tuvok's eyebrows rose. "Indeed?" he said. Then after a pause he added. "I would have to make some adjustments to the tactical console on the bridge, but perhaps there is some benefit to this idea after all." The other people at the table chuckled. Chief Bowers was the ship's armorer. She was one of those types who had to complain about things and who thought she knew better than anyone else how things should be done, especially when it came to the running of the ship's security department. The idea of her changing places with the chief of security for a day was more than ironic to some of the other officers.

"Well, gentlemen," Janeway said after a moment. "I'd say you've done an excellent job with this. It looks like we just need to sit down and hammer out some details and then boxing day can go forward."

The officers spent the rest of that time together talking about how they imagined the day going. They pictured, in sometimes very humorous detail, the way that certain individuals would act out their new roles. As Janeway watched and listened, she saw her crew beginning to be captivated by the idea of boxing day.


	2. Chapter 2

Boxing Day

**Boxing Day**

**Part II**

As the scheduled date for Boxing Day grew closer, excitement among the crew began to build. At first, a number of them were disappointed that they would not be participating or they were unhappy about their assignments for the day. However, as the time approached, they began to look upon it as an interesting spectator event. They looked forward to seeing how their crewmates would look in their new roles or how they would perform. They looked forward to having humorous anecdotes to tell or to tease their crewmates about afterwards.

When Crewman Duane Mullins was told that he was to be Captain of voyager for a day, he became so nervous and excited that he had to report to sickbay so the doctor could help him with a case of hyperventilation. When Chief Jeanette Bowers learned that she was indeed to be Chief of Security for a day, she smirked with smug self-satisfaction and rubbed her hands together. "good!" She exclaimed. "now I'll be able to show that Vulcan slave-driver the way to run a department."

Commander Chakotay and Mr. Neelix really wanted to make Ensign Vorek the Chief Engineer for a day, but BeLanna Torres swore that, "If you do that and I'm still anywhere near Engineering, he's not liable to live out the day." Chakotay did not like this constant fractiousness from the half-Klingon Chief Engineer, but for the sake of her morale, he decided to let it go. He did resolve, however, to sit down with her at the earliest opportunity to talk about this and get her to be more a part of this ship and this crew, no matter how much she distrusted "STARFLEET" personnel.

When the deborgified woman Seven-Of-Nine was told about the event, she spent some time in thoughtful contemplation. Then she said, "A quaint idea, but not without validity. In The Borg Collective, we all command by virtue of the collective consciousness and our consensus within that consciousness. We all also serve the Collective in whatever ways we are equipped to do so, no matter how difficult or dangerous that service might be. I suppose this is the closest that humans can come to that ideal as individuals. I shall be most interested to observe the ways that each individual among the crew who participates, adapts to the changes in their circumstances. It should be most instructive."

Janeway and Chakotay spent some time closeted together in her ready-room. They had to make sure that all critical duty stations were covered during the event and they had to modify the main computer's command code structure so that no vital command functions would be compromised by having such junior crewmembers in key positions. Janeway was determined that no major disruptions in ship's functions should take place while she was out of her command position and she wondered what STARFLEET Command would think about all this when they eventually read reports of how she relinquished her command to a crewman from the hydroponics bay.

"I have to tell you, Chakotay," she said, after a marathon session of working through these logistics. "After all this, I'm not inclined to repeat this event, regardless of whether it's successful or not. It's been a real drain on our time and efforts and I'm just not sure it's worth it."

"I know what you mean, Kathryn." He said as he stretched and tried to work a kink out of his neck. "Of course, in the Maquis, we didn't have this level of sophistication in our command structure, and we didn't have to worry about STARFLEET regulations and all the protocols involved. I could make a suggestion, though."

"Oh?" she asked. "What's that?"

"Well, I know the Daystrom Institute is always looking for sociological data on long deep space missions," he said, a hint of a twinkle in his dark eyes. "You could write it up as a sort of sociology experiment."

She grinned. "I don't know if STARFLEET Command would buy that. This mission will go down in the history books after all, even though it wasn't intended to. I don't think I can get them to swallow just anything I send them when people will be reading it generations from now."

"That may be true," Chakotay pointed out. "But it is better than saying that we wanted to do something fun."

Janeway nodded thoughtfully. "You've got a point there," she said.

Meanwhile, Tuvok spent his off-duty time pouring over schematics and programming layouts for his tactical and security consoles. He was looking for the most optimal way to set those up for Chief Bowers that would allow her to get an idea of the scope of his job without being able to do any real damage to the ship or his preferred settings. The control systems on Voyager were very customizable and Tuvok had spent considerable time getting his duty area on the bridge set up in as perfect a way as possible. He even held an unexpressed belief that Seven-Of-Nine would find it a worthy effort in approaching perfection.

The senior staff were not the only ones to be making preparations for the big day, however. Once Duane Mullins had calmed down and given some thought to what it would actually be like to be the captain, he began to do some reading of the exploits of past captains and he also looked at some hollodeck simulations of their actions on their respective bridges. He came to the conclusion that there was so much to know and so much to understand, that he would be better off just to go with his best judgment and also to rely on the suggestions of the officers who would be sharing the bridge with him.

Chief Bowers spent many hours reviewing protocol and procedure manuals and viewing her own hollodeck simulations of security and tactical officers in various situations. She intended to be as well-prepared as possible, and to prove that even though she might be only a chief, and even though she didn't have 80 or 90 years of service in STARFLEET, she could still do the job very well. She wanted to prove that she was right about her views on running the security department.

Then, after a few more days of completely uneventful shipboard routine, the day finally came. It was officially Boxing Day onboard Voyager. Duane Mullins was up early, after a nearly sleepless night. He hoped this would be good for the morale of the rest of the crew because it wasn't doing much for his own. He put on his best uniform, choked down a light breakfast, and headed for the bridge. Bowers arose after a sound sleep, put in her regular daily exercise regimen, and also consumed a light breakfast, albeit with a good deal more taste and enjoyment than Mullins had. She also put on her best uniform and headed for the bridge.

The bridge was quieter than usual. The officers on duty looked on with interest as Janeway handed Mullins a sash that had been replicated for the occasion. It was in ship's colors and had "Acting Captain" stenciled on it. Bowers arrived in time to see this and to note that Tuvok was looking impatient, even though she was by no means late. He held out another sash with "Acting Chief of Security" on it, and as she accepted it, she heard Janeway say, "Welcome to the bridge, Mr. Mullins. Is this your first time up here?"

"Thank you, ma'am," Mullins said nervously. "Yes, it's my first time on the real thing, although I have seen it plenty of times on the hollodeck."

"So you've been doing your homework!" she said heartily. "Good! I'm glad to know that you've taken some time to prepare. Do you think you know what everything is and where it is?"

"Oh, yes ma'am," he replied quickly. "I've got the layout down pretty well."

"So then you're ready to take command?" she asked briskly.

Mullins squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. "Yes, Captain. I'm ready."

"Very well, then," she said. "I've got to get myself down to hydroponics before I'm late for my duty shift. By the way, do you have coffee down there?"

Mullins shuddered. "You don't want to drink the coffee from their, ma'am." He said. It's terrible and I've never been able to get it adjusted right."

"Thanks for the warning," she smiled at him reassuringly. "I'll get some from my ready-room, or should I say, your ready-room, before I go, if I may, Captain?"

Mullins had never exchanged this many words with Janeway before and he was surprised at how easy she was to talk to. "Why certainly, Captain, he said expansively. "Please help yourself."

She nodded, turned away and started to leave, and then she turned back. "I almost forgot," she said. "Computer!"

There was a double beep from the bridge speakers.

"Initiate program Janeway Boxer 1 and set modified functions for Acting Captain Duane MullinsAuthorization, Janeway Pi 2 3 7 3 2."

The computer emitted a triple beep and responded, "Modified command functions in place as outlined in Janeway Boxer 1. Mullins, Duane E. is logged as Acting Captain of Voyager."

With a start, Mullins remembered that he was supposed to say something at this moment. "I relieve you, Captain Janeway," he spoke as firmly and as clearly as he could.

Janeway nodded her approval and responded in kind, "I stand relieved."

The two had been so caught up in the moment that they forgot about the rest of the people on the bridge watching the scene play itself out. They were brought back to awareness as the whole bridge compliment applauded lustily. Tuvok handed the security department over to Bowers with much less ceremony and the two officers left the bridge together, Janeway being bound for the hydroponics bay, and Tuvok heading for Bowers's former station in the ship's armory. As they made their separate ways through the ship, they saw other crewmembers with sashes on as they took up their Boxing Day stations.

Janeway spotted Chakotay heading for engineering, where he would take up the post of engineering mission specialist, the lowest rank in engineering. There, he would perform his duty shift in whatever grueling task BeLanna Torres could come up with for him.

"Morning, Chakotay!" Janeway called. "Are you looking forward to your day cleaning out manifolds or something?"

"Why yes, Crewman Janeway," Chakotay responded grinning. He now outranked her and couldn't resist rubbing it in just a little. "How about you? Looking forward to digging that dirt out from under your nails, tonight?"

She smiled and nodded as she passed him in the corridor. "Oh, you know, I really don't mind. I used to do lab experiments that were much messier than this is going to be." They waved as they moved farther apart.

Back on the bridge, Bowers was deep in concentration as she carefully studied the control layouts of the tactical panel in front of her. Tuvok had made some changes in how it was configured and she was finding it challenging to figure out where everything was and what sequence you had to use to make the appropriate things happen. She cursed at Tuvok under her breath. She felt that his precautions had been unnecessary and she had spent all that time studying these layouts only to find them changed. She was determined that she wouldn't let this beat her, though. She studied the panel so fiercely that if anyone had felt a need to speak to her, they would not have been heard, at least not without taking some drastic steps to get her attention.

Mullins was beginning to feel the excitement of it all now. He began to understand that he could give orders and those orders would be carried out as long as they didn't immediately endanger the ship. He sat in the command chair and looked around at all the screens and readouts and the people as they worked busily at their various jobs. He faced forward and looked at the main view screen. The stars were especially beautiful today and he did not have much of an opportunity to look at them while working in hydroponics. He decided he might as well do something rather than just sit there all day and watch the ship run itself without him.

"Mr. Parris," He said, a little more loudly than he had intended. Then more quietly he asked, "What's the ship's status?"

After a great deal of deliberation, it had been decided that Tom Parris would act as First Officer and Con Officer today. That way, there would be no need to bring another inexperienced crewmember onto the bridge and it would give Paris an opportunity to try out a different job as well.

He answered Mullins, "Situation normal, Captain. All boards show green. We're currently on a heading of 302 mark 055 and we're running at warp 2."

"Vary Well," Mullins said. "Mr. Kim. Is there anything really interesting going on in our area of space right now?"

Ensign Harry Kim answered from his station at the rear of the bridge. "Nothing to speak of, Captain. There are a couple of class 2 comets and a small nebula. The stars in this area don't even have planets around them. It's one of the reasons why things have been so quiet for the last couple of months."

"Hmm," Mullins said, disappointed. "Well, uh, hmm, Mr. Uh, Parris. Do we have room to do some maneuvering?"

Tom Parris had been expecting this. He knew this young man who suddenly had the chance to be Captain wouldn't be able to resist at least making some token maneuvers so as to feel the ship obey his commands and change its behavior under his orders. "Sure thing, Captain," he responded. We have plenty of room around us."

"Good," Mullins said. "Uh, change course, Mr. Parris. Let's turn 90 degrees to starboard. Let's also increase speed to warp 3."

"Aye, Captain," Parris responded as he entered the requisite commands into his helm console. Immediately, the note of the engines changed and the star lines on the main screen grew longer and closer together. Then they began coming toward the screen at an angle as the ship made its turn at warp.

Mullins was thrilled and terrified at the same time. He couldn't help thinking that they were traveling through space at over a million miles per second and that at those speeds, you could get awfully close to a star or something before you even knew it or had any time to do anything about it. He was gratified to feel the ship respond to him but he wasn't eager to go gyrating across the sky, just to satisfy his thirst to feel the ship's enormous power. He sighed heavily and sat forward in the command chair. He enjoyed the rush of it for another moment and then he said, "Thank you, Mr. Parris. Let's resume our original course and speed if you please."

Tom was surprised and a little disappointed. He had expected Mullins to try at least a few more things. "Oh well," he thought, I guess it's different when you're not used to this and hardly even get to see the stars, let alone be able to go shooting around among them."

After a quick glance back at Mullins, he simply said, "Aye, sir. Resuming original course and speed."

Once the screen had returned to its original appearance, Mullins sat back in the command chair. He was content. "This isn't bad," e thought. "I wouldn't mind doing a little star traveling. It would have to be on a much smaller and slower ship though."

Janeway, raised her head from looking into the large tank she was cleaning. Being as attuned to the ship as she was, she had immediately felt the change of course and speed, and then felt it change back again. So he's trying it out a little," she thought. "Not a lot, not out to show off, just a little to see what it feels like. That's OK. Enjoy it," she sent her thoughts to the young man on the bridge. She thought back to the first day she had the con of a starship and what it had felt like to give orders and have the ship move in response. There was nothing as exciting and as terrifying as that.

Chakotay heard the change in speed but could tell very little else about it. He was hanging head downward in an access hatch as he cleaned out the intake valves for the port impulse engines. It was hot and difficult work for a man who was unaccustomed to it. He thought to himself, "I hope that kid doesn't decide to drop out of warp and go to impulse. It'll get a lot hotter in here if he does."

Of course, the safeties were on and the impulse engines wouldn't activate as long as the sensors showed a living being in the service area. If the bridge called for impulse power, the starboard engines would respond alone and the Con Officer would have to compensate for the loss of thrust on the port side.

Elsewhere on the ship, people were either having fun or they were having trouble. Some people took to their new jobs with skill and enthusiasm. Others found it more difficult to get into the new routine and saw no point in doing so, since they would have to return to their regular jobs the next day. Some of these were even tempted to take off their sashes and head back to their regular posts or try to disappear in the holodecks while nobody was paying attention.

In the armory, Tuvok had rigged up the screens so that he could observe Bowers's actions on the bridge through the command inputs she entered. There was nothing going on that needed the ship's armorer and if he were human, he would have been finding himself quite bored. He was more than ready to swap posts with Bowers and return to his station on the bridge.

The morning passed without incident and as the afternoon approached, things were still quiet onboard Voyager. From a standpoint of experiencing different jobs, the day was turning out to be a success. As it turned out, the crew of Voyager should have appreciated their quiet time more. Things were about to change and it happened right in the middle of Boxing Day.


	3. Chapter 3

Boxing Day

**Boxing Day**

**Part III**

The Borg cube hung in the darkness between the stars. At the moment, it was drifting, being brushed along by stellar winds and gravitic forces, but since it wasn't in close proximity to any heavenly bodies at all, there was no need to expend power to hold it stationary. It's exterior appearance being unadorned with lights or view ports, belied the bustle of activity within its gigantic hull.

The Borg drones that made up the crew of this cube were busy as they almost always were when they were not regenerating. The collective had recently assimilated a new species which had technology that was deemed important enough for all the cubes to stop in space long enough to incorporate it into their systems wherever possible. Many of this cube's systems were off line while this was taking place but the drones had nearly finished their work and the cube began to awaken anew.

As their sensors came back on line, they took note of the fact that they were in an uninteresting part of space, with no planets to check for useful species and no resources to exploit. Then, they detected the starship. Within a fraction of a second, they had identified it and determined that it was one already being sought by the collective and thus being worthy of assimilation. Quickly turning thought into action as they always did, the Borg stopped their cube's idle drifting and started it moving with increasing speed and relentless purpose toward the starship Voyager.

Duane Mullins was enjoying himself very much. Even though he had not had that much to do during his short time as captain, he thought that this was one of the most extraordinary experiences of his life and he was grateful for it. He had only a few hours to go and then life would return to normal and he would hand the command of Voyager back to Captain Janeway. He had enjoyed the privilege of having a meal while at his duty station. He had heard that the legendary Captain Kirk had enjoyed chicken sandwiches and coffee for lunch so that was his choice also. He found it to be a perfectly satisfactory lunch. He was slowly surveying the bridge, turning the command chair to gaze around at each duty station and each crewmember when he saw Harry Kim suddenly go rigid with alarm.

"Captain!" Kim nearly shouted. Then he looked at Mullins, seeming to remember only then that Janeway was not sitting in that chair on this day. The two men stared at each other for a moment, and Harry decided that he might as well go ahead and report the situation. In a quieter voice he said, "Sensors are detecting a Borg cube on an intercept course with us. At its present speed, it'll be in visual range in 8 minutes."

Mullins sat there with his eyes and mouth open wide for a second. Then he leaned forward and grinned at the young operations officer. "Great!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know we were going to get to do something like this! This'll be better than anything I did on the hollodeck."

Then he swiveled toward the tactical console and said, "Mr. Bowers, put us at red alert and bring the ship to battle readiness if you please."

Startled, Chief Bowers looked up from her console. "I'm sorry, uh, sir," she was muddled from staring at the new layouts for so long. "Did you speak to me?"

Mullins had never liked her and he was impatient that she didn't have her head in the game. "Do you have a hearing problem, Mister?" he barked. "I told you to sound red alert and put us at battle stations!"

"No, sir," she started to say. "I mean yes, sir." Her hand shot out and tapped a couple of pads on her console.

The quiet of the ship was suddenly filled with the raucous sound of the alert claxon and the alert repeaters flashed with the new condition signal for battle stations. A number of other things began to happen very rapidly. The lighting in key parts of the ship changed from the bright light of normal operations to the amber glow of combat lighting. The main deflector shields powered on and their protective energy came up around the ship. The main phaser banks began to charge and the auto-loaders for the photon torpedoes sprang into action, filling their tubes with their deadly payloads.

Mullins observed all this activity with growing excitement, grinning at the other people on the bridge. Harry Kim stared at him grimly. "Uh, sir, you don't seem to understand. Maybe it would be a good idea to call Captain Janeway to the bridge."

"Oh, hey, come on!" Mullins scoffed. "I can handle this. I've done it on the hollodeck. Everything's under control."

"Sir, that's a real Borg ship out there," Harry responded. "This isn't a game or simulation."

"What do you mean it's a real Borg ship," Mullins said, his stomach beginning to tighten as he grasped the seriousness of the situation.

Tom Parris's voice came from the con. "Confirmed!" he said sharply. "Borg cube at seven-hundred-thousand kilometers and closing at warp 6."

"Well, hell," Duane said, now sitting bolt upright in the command chair. He no longer thought this experience was that much fun. He tapped his com badge and spoke into it, "Captain Janeway, report to the bridge please."

Tom Parris now spoke up in his role as first officer, "Chief Bowers, initiate Borg defense protocols and set random frequency changes for the phasers and random neutations for the shields."

Jeanette Bowers had covered this in her studies of the tactical systems and was ready for it, at least in her own mind. Her hand shot out to make the necessary changes in the shield and phaser settings. In doing so, she was foiled by the new control layouts that Tuvok had put in place. She tapped two control pads out of sequence and things began to go very wrong.

Suddenly, the ship's engines emitted a low and descending growling sound as they were rapidly powered down and their energy was rerouted to other places. The ship staggered in space. It dropped out of warp speed in a haphazard fashion rather than its usually smooth deceleration into normal space, and people were jostled about until the inertial dampers were able to compensate for the unexpected motion. Throughout the ship, force-fields popped into existence, placing protective barriers around control consoles, sectioning off rooms, and blocking corridors and turbo-lift shafts. It was suddenly impossible for anyone to move from one place to another within the ship or even for some crewmembers to do their jobs. Several force-fields even appeared on the bridge, one of which completely encased Mullins in the command chair.

"Hey!" Mullins cried out. What's happening here? This isn't supposed to happen is it?" He lunged up against the force-field around him and was thrown back into the command chair.

Other officers scrambled to get back to their consoles or tapped away busily to get a reading on what had just happened. "Did the Borg fire at us?" Tom Parris asked.

"Negative!" Harry called back. "We just had an unexpected rerouting of power from the warp engines to the internal security fields. It looks like all of them are on."

"Well turn them off, Bowers!" Mullins called out.

"I'm trying!" Bowers cried. "Tuvok's done something to this panel. I can't figure out how to reverse this command!"

Most of the pads she tapped emitted error tones and she was rapidly loosing her grip on the situation. Both Harry Kim and Tom Parris tried to shut down the force fields from their own consoles but were unable to do so. They all stared at the main view screen as the Borg cube began to grow larger in it.

Kathryn Janeway was startled by the alert klaxon. She had been working with a nitrogen infuser, preparing to fertilize some seed trays, when the sound of it crashed through her concentration. She accidentally triggered the release valve while the unit was still pressurized and her uniform tunic was soaked with the liquid goop.

She cleaned enough of it off herself to be able to use her com badge and called out, "Janeway to bridge! What's going on!"

Harry Kim's tense voice came back to her through the noise of the klaxon, "We've got a Borg cube coming toward us, Captain. We're taking defensive measures, but..."

"I hear that!" she barked. "I'm on my way!"

"That may be a problem, Captain," Kim said, just as she crashed into a force-field just outside the hydroponics bay. As she picked herself up dazedly off the deck, he went on. "There's been a malfunction of the security interface. We're trying to correct it but right now, all the fields are on."

"keep trying to get them off," she called. "I'll get there as soon as I can. Janeway to Torres! Can you shut down the force-fields from Engineering?"

BeLanna Torres's angry voice growled back at her. "I would if I could, Captain. Right now, I can't get to any of my consoles. We'll wreck the force-field emitters if we have to, but I'll get back there as soon as possible!"

"Understood," Janeway replied. "Janeway to Tuvok. Are you reading this?"

"Affirmative, Captain," came Tuvok's voice from the armory. "I too am unable to do anything about it at this immediate moment. I shall endeavor to do so. However, the security defenses in the armory are even more elaborate than they are in other parts of the ship. It will take me some time to circumvent them."

"Damn!" Janeway swore. "It looks like you'll have to solve this one up there, bridge," she called out. "We'll keep working on things from this end."

"Acknowledged, Captain," Harry responded. "Good luck, Ma'am."

"Good luck to us all," she murmured. "It looks like we'll need it this time." Then she tore open the nearest maintenance panel in the corridor bulkhead to see if she could short out the force-fields in her part of the ship.

Time seemed to have slowed down on the bridge. Everyone was in the grip of the knowledge that these might be their last few minutes of life, or their last few minutes as individual, free-thinking, un-assimilated beings. They stared at their consoles or at the view screen. The dot of the Borg cube was steadily growing larger there. The already diffuse combat lighting was made even more surreal by the reflections and refractions of light off the force-fields. In slow motion, they managed to turn off the alarm klaxons and get themselves settled so they could start working on a solution to their situation.

Time abruptly snapped back to normal speed when a thunderous cacophony of voices, speaking in ringing unison, burst from all the speakers throughout the ship. "We are the Borg," came the ominous and well-known announcement. "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. You will lower your shields and surrender yourselves and your vessel. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own."


	4. Chapter 4

Boxing Day

**Boxing Day**

**Part IV**

"Do we have weapons?" Tom Parris asked.

Bowers said hesitantly," Well, uh, yes. We have them, or it looks like we do. At this point, though, I'm not sure I can fire them or even aim them. What are we going to do!" This last was in a wail of despair and fear that had no place in their current situation.

Tom Parris tried to snap her out of it. "Well, you'd better figure it out, Mister," he barked. "We need everyone alert and thinking."

Stung, she took a deep breath as if to retort, and then sighed and said more calmly, "I know, sir. I've got a few more things to try. I'll figure this out."

Parris nodded and then turned toward Harry Kim. "Harry," he said. "See if you can take control of the weapons from there. We need to..."

He was cut off by a voice over the com system. "Sickbay to bridge," the Doctor's voice came through. "Be advised that I am unable to accept casualties at this time. These force-fields around sickbay prevent anyone from bringing wounded people to me, and with the transporters being in anti-transport mode, we can't beam anyone through the ship."

"Understood, Doctor," Parris called out. "We'll get those fields down as soon as we can."

"Please keep this channel open," the Doctor said. "I'm cut off down here and I appreciate knowing what's going on."

Parris nodded at Kim, who tapped a pad that locked the channel open. Kim said, "I can't get phaser control, here. "Everything's locked down. I've never seen anything like this before."

"I wonder what Captain Proton would do," Duane Mullins said softly.

Tom and Harry turned toward him. "Did you say something... sir?" Tom asked.

Mullins had been thinking hard. He looked at the two officers in turn and said, "Yeah, I said I wondered what Captain Proton would do."

"How do you know about Captain Proton," Harry asked, surprised.

Emboldened by his temporary rank, Mullins answered back somewhat more abruptly than he otherwise might have. "You think you're the only ones who know how to run a hollodeck program? I haven't played that one, but I've watched it. This situation is so far off the wall, that it sounds like something Captain Proton would have to pull a miracle out of his hat or space helmet or whatever, and save the day at the last minute. Maybe something having to do with mirrors or space rays or something."

Harry suddenly looked thoughtful. "Well, we don't have mirrors, and we can't use our space rays at the moment, but we do have force-fields and we can do things with hollograms."

"What do you mean?" Tom and Duane asked together.

"I've got an idea," Harry said beginning to get excited. "It's crazy enough that it might work. Give me a minute." He suddenly was very busy with his computer console.

Tom started to say something when the ship shuddered and a rumbling sound could be heard and felt through the deck plating beneath their feet. He turned back to his console and checked some readings. "The Borg are trying to break through our shields," he called out.

Two beams of energy had sprung from the Borg cube and were playing over Voyager's shields. As much as anything else, they resembled two glowing fingers trying to feel their way toward an opening or to find a way to open a box. The changing behavior of the shields was making it difficult for them at the moment, but everyone who understood these things, new that it was only a matter of time before the Borg found a way to breech the shields and then they could assimilate the crew at their own pace.

"I've almost got it," Harry said tensely and then he spoke to the Doctor on his still open channel. "Doctor, I need to borrow you for a few minutes."

"Borrow me," the Doctor said in consternation. "Why?"

"I don't need all of you, just your image and your voice," Harry went on. "I need to use you to make a photonic army."

"A photonic army," the Doctor almost squeaked. "Now see here, I'm a doctor, not a toy soldier. You can't just..."

"Sorry, Doctor," Harry Kim cut him off. "I promise I'll give you a full explanation and make it up to you, but there's no time now!"

"But wait," the Doctor started to say, and then his image went rigid and he lost his connection to the rest of reality.

After a few seconds, the bridge, and in fact, all the rooms and corridors of the ship were suddenly filled with copies of the Doctor. Whey were displayed in 2 dimensions on the surface of force-fields and, where the force-fields conjoined or were opposed in the right way, they were presented in 3 dimensions. The images of the Doctor had changed somewhat. Their balding heads were now covered with gleaming space helmets and their bodies were clad in outlandish armor instead of STARFLEET uniforms. More than anything else, they resembled Klingons with their armor covered with round reflective discs.

"OK!" Tom exclaimed. "Now we need to talk to the Borg in one voice. Get me a channel, Harry."

"No!" Duane called out. "I'll do it."

The 2 officers looked at him. "Look, uh, Duane," Tom started to say. "This is really serious now and we can't do the boxing..."

"Don't you get it?" Duane asked vehemently? "This isn't about Boxing Day anymore. I know what you are trying to do and I can do this Part. I'm still the captain and I'll speak for this ship. Even if it's just Captain Proton."

Tom and Harry looked at each other and then around the bridge. Then Tom said, "Give him a channel."

Aye," Harry said as he reached out to open hailing frequencies.

After a few more seconds, the view of the Borg cube on the screen was replaced with an image of the immense interior of the cube. The Borg spoke in their terrible, unified voice. "Further communication is irrelevant. Resistance is futile. Lower your shields and surrender."

Duane Mullins spoke and his voice came out of all the Doctor images throughout the ship. "We are the photonic army. We are not interested in you or your intensions to assimilate this vessel. We have taken control of it and are using it for our own purposes. If you do not go from us and leave us alone, we will take control of your vessel. It is much larger than this one and would contain many times the number of us. We are beings of light and energy and, as such, we are closer to perfection than you are. You will be obsolete in the new order."

The Borg froze in place. Many of them could be seen on the main screen and none of them moved for more than a minute. They had not encountered a response like this in all their history of assimilating other species. Eventually, they responded. "Your postulation that a photonic being could be more perfect than the Borg is invalid. You exist for only as long as you have energy. This makes you inherently imperfect."

Duane was ready for this. He immediately replied, "We travel the galaxy, searching for a perpetual power source. Once we have found it and liberated other photonic beings like ourselves, we shall become the new order. You and any others who oppose us or who are of no use to us will become irrelevant. Go from us and do not return. You do not have long to decide."

Again, the Borg were silent and frozen for 2 or more minutes. Then, with a shudder through Voyager's hull, they stopped trying to penetrate the shields. They finally spoke. "We must examine this concept of a photonic being with perpetual energy. This could indeed be a perfect form of existence. Should we find your statement sound, we will contact you again on different terms. If not, your vessel will be assimilated and you will cease to exist."

The main view screen went dark for a second, and then the stars appeared once more. The Borg cube was already turning away from Voyager and accelerating. A few seconds after that, it leapt into warp space and disappeared. All the people on Voyager's bridge stared at the screen in unbridled amazement. Then, they burst forth in cheers and applause. It was over that quickly.

"Wow!" Duane and the images of the Doctor exclaimed. "That worked better than I thought."

"Oops," Harry said, grinning. "Hang on a second."

He turned back to his computer and his hands flashed over its control surface. In another moment, the images of the Doctor vanished and the Doctor in sickbay, still frozen in place, suddenly jerked back to life. "Please state the nature... Ah! I've been offline. For how long? What did you do to me, Ensign Kim?"

"I'm really sorry about that, Doc," Harry said contritely. "I'm downloading a playback of the last few minutes into your memory matrix so you can see what you and Captain Mullins did. You saved us!"

The Doctor, looking forward to giving Harry Kim a good piece of his virtual mind, suddenly was stopped in mid rant. He looked blank for a moment as he reviewed the recording that Harry sent him. Then he said, "Well, I did, didn't I? Most impressive! You gentlemen were both very impressive, Mr. KimCaptain Mullins. Next time, however," and here he tried to look stern again. "I would appreciate more warning before you attempt to tamper with my hollo-matrix."

"Understood, Doc," Tom broke in, "And thank you very much. Bridge out."

Tom started to speak again when Jeanette Bowers shouted out from across the bridge, "There! I've got it!"

She tapped a succession of pads on her recalcitrant console. Then, a series of beeps and other electronic sounds were emitted from various places around the bridge, and from around the ship for that matter. The force-fields suddenly vanished, and the normal lighting came back on.

Then, everyone was talking at once. They were all amazed that things could have transpired in such a way and that they had come through it without a shot being fired, and with their individuality intact. Tom Parris was trying to restore some semblance of order when the turbo-lift doors burst open and Janeway, Tuvok, and Chakotay all spilled onto the bridge.

The captain's mess was unusually crowded that evening. It was a celebration that hadn't been seen there before. The tables groaned under heaping dishes of all the varieties of food that Neelix could put together. The room was filled with people laughing and talking and sharing their relief at the way things turned out.

Jeanette Bowers was still angry at Tuvok, accusing him, in front of everyone, of plotting to make her look foolish. She was brought to a halt, and the entire room went silent when he admitted that he had in fact made an error. "I did not adequately take into account the ways in which my security protocols interact with Captain Janeway's command authority," He added, "When the Captain invoked her modified settings for use by Mr. Mullins, there were certain logical insufficiencies, which resulted in an accidental activation of a test program I was using to formulate new Borg defenses. It is difficult, though not impossible, to modify the ship's systems so they perform adequately under conditions imposed upon them by this Boxing Day idea."

"Well," Janeway cut in, trying to defuse the situation further. "Neither of you will have to worry about a repeat of this exercise. It turned out to be much too much trouble for the morale benefits we might have gained."

"it sure was something, though, wasn't it!" Neelix piped up. "Nobody would believe this story who wasn't actually here to see it happen."

"By the way, Mr. Mullins," Janeway said, turning to the young crewman. "in all the excitement, I forgot to ask you how you liked your experience as captain."

"Well, ma'am," he said thoughtfully. "A lot of it was pretty great! Giving orders and having the ship do what I said, and seeing the stars... Well, that was great. The other part, though, with the Borg and all, well, I could have done without that."

Everyone laughed. "Well, Duane, she said, going so far as to put an arm around his shoulders, "Any time you want another look at the stars, or just to say hello to your friends on the bridge, you're more than welcome to come up there."

Everyone applauded and Mullins grinned. Then Tom Parris spoke up. "You did really great up there, Duane," he said, a newfound respect for the young man in his eyes. "By the way, what are you doing on Saturday?"

"Oh," Duane said. "Well, I go off duty at midnight on Friday. Other than that, nothing in particular. Why do you ask, Lieutenant?"

"Well," Parris said. "Harry, Ensign Kim, and I thought you might like to meet us on the hollodeck."

The two put their heads together and began discussing their chance to participate in a Captain Proton adventure. The rest of the gathering went on in celebration. Even though the situation of that day had not played out in any way that could have been imagined, the crew now felt a new confidence. They knew that they could count on everyone, from the captain on down to the man in the hydroponics bay, to do what had to be done to pull them through whatever crisis might arise. They knew that this increased the likelihood that they would actually see the stars of home once again. What was most amazing to them was that they learned this message through an old Earth custom, an event called Boxing Day.


End file.
